Ship&#39;s-bell clock.



v PATENTED JUNE so, 1908.

SHIPS BELL cLocx. APPLIGATION rmm mu. s. 1008.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

' PATENTED JUNE 30, 1908.

P. LUX.

SHI'PS' BELL CLOCK.

APPLIUATION FILED MAB. 6, 190B.

3 SHEETSSHEET 2;

m: mamas PETERS ca.. wAsHlNcmN. n c,

No. 892,067. v PATENTEDJUNE 303908 P .LUX.

SHIPS BELL CLOCK.

APPLICATION FILED 16411.5. 190s.

' a SHEETS-SHEET a.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. PAUL LUX, OF WATERBURY, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOQTO THE WATERBURY CLOCK 00., OF WATERBURY, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION.

SHIPS-BELL oLocK.

Specification of Letters'Patent.

Patented June 30, 1908.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PAUL LUX, a citizen of the United States, residing at Waterbury, in the county of New Haven and State of Coni necticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Ships-Bell Clocks and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and the letters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, and which said drawings constitute part of this specification, and represent, 1n-

Figure 1 a view in rear elevation of a ships bell clock provided with my improved striking mechanism, the parts of which are shown ready to strike the hour. Fig. 2 a corresponding view showing the arts in their positions at the close of str1 ing the half hour, with the hammer caught in its lifted position. Fig. 3 a view of the clock in vertical section looking at the inner face of the rear movement plate, and showing the lifting-lever and lifting-cam as well as the fourth wheel of the striking train. Fig. 4 a detached view in elevation of the half-hour eccentric. Fig. 5 a detached view in elevation of the halfhour switch. Fig. 6 a plan view thereof. Fig. 7 a view in elevation of the half-hour lever. Fig. 8 a plan view thereof. Fig. 9 a view in elevation of the combined lifting-lever and half-hour finger. Fig. 10 an edge view thereof. Fig. 11 a view in elevation of the lockinglever. Fig. 12 a plan view thereof. Fig. 13 a view in elevation of the rack and rack-arm. Fig. 14 a detached view in elevation of the snail. Fig. 15 a corresponding view of the snail,- finger. Fig. 16 a detached plan view of the gathering hub. Fig. 17a view of the clockmovement in right hand side elevation showing the strike-train. Fig. 18 a View of the clock-movement in left hand elevation, and also showing the strike-train.

My invention relates to an improvement in ships bells clocks, that is to say, clocks constructed to strike ships time instead of land time, ships time dividing the twentyfour hours of a day into six watches, each divided into half hour spaces counted from the beginning of each watch so that the half hours are always struckon an odd number. Thus, the forenoon watch from 8 to 12 a. 111., will be struck as follows :8 oclock 8 bells, 8:30 oclock 1 bell, 9 oclock 2 bells,

9:30 oclock 3 bells, 10 oclock 4 bells, 10:30 o'clock 5 bells, 11 o'clock 6 bells, 11:30 oclock 7 bells.

The object of my present invention is to produce a ships bells clock arranged to strike ships bells with a single hammer striking double strokes, whereby the number of necessary parts is reduced to the minimum and reliability of operation secured.

With these ends in view my invention con sists in a ships bells clock having certain details of construction and combinations of parts as will be hereinafter described and pointed out in the claims.

In carrying out my invention as herein shown, I employ a rack-arm 2 hung upon a stud 3 mounted in the rear movement-plate 4, the arm being furnished with a segmental rack 5 formed at its lower end with a lockingnotch 7 and an outwardly bowed guardfinger 8.

A snail-finger 9 mounted concentrically with the arm 2 and rigid therewith is formed at its end with a beveled finger 10 standing at a right angle to it and riding upon the edge of a snail 11 turning loosely upon the projecting rear end of the center arbor 12 on which it makes a complete revolution once in four hours. The said snail 11 is secured to a hub 13 carrying a wheel 14 meshing into a pinion 15 rigidwith a wheel 16 loosely turning upon a stud 17 in the said plate 4 and meshlng into a pinion 18 fixed upon the projecting rear end of the said arbor 12 so as to make an hourly rotation therewith. The said pinions and wheels are calcu lated so that the hourly rotation of the pinion 18 will eflect the rotation of the snail 11 once in four hours. This snail it may be noted is plotted with reference to controlling the dropping of the arm 2 and rack in accordance with the requirements of striking ships bells on the hour and on the half hour conformably with the schedule above given.

Upon the rojecting rear end of the arbor 12 I fix a heilf-hour eccentric 19 making an hourly revolution with the said arbor and hourly co-acting with a skeleton-like pivotal half-hour switch 20 suspended at its u per end from a pin 21 near the upper en of a locking lever 22 turning upon a stud 23 passing through its lower end and mounted in the said plate 4, this lever being formed at its extreme lower end with a shoulder 24 for engagement by a spring 25 attached to the said plate by a screw 26 and exerting a constant effort to throw the lever 22 from left to right. The reason for the characterization of the eccentric 19 and switch 20 by the term half hour will appear later on. The said lever 22 is lifted from right to left against the tension of the spring 25 by means of a lifting pin 27 carried by it and projecting inward from it through a slot 28 in the plate 4 into position to be engaged by the bevel 29 of a lifting-lever 30 carried by an arbor 31 and formed with a beveled linger 32 succes sively engaged by the two teeth 33 of a lifting cam 34 revolving once an hour with the arbor 12 upon which it is mounted in position to lie close to the inner face of the plate 4. The said cam 34 by its teeth 33 lifts the said lever 30 against the tension of its spring 35 once every 30 minutes, whereby the locking-lever 22 is lifted. once every 30 minutes from right to left against the tension of the spring 25. As the said lever is lifted from right to left as described, the locking pin 36 carried by it is lifted out of the locking notch. 7 in the rack 5 which is thus unlocked and left free to drop until the snail finger 9 engages with the edge of the snail 11 the position of which determines the extent to which the rack drops and therefore the number of its teeth which pass below the lockingpin 36. This unlocking of the rack takes place just before the locking-lever 22 reaches the limit of its lifting movement under the action of the cam 34. As the lever is still further lifted. the locking finger 37 bent inward at a right angle from its extreme upper end and extending inward through a slot 38 in the rear movement-plate 4, is disengaged from a stop pin 39 in the fourth wheel 40 of the striking train. The letting-off of the striking train starts the gathering-hub 42 which is mounted upon the projecting rear end of the arbor 43 of the third wheel 43" of the striking train which is shown in Figs. 17 and 18 though not particularly described as it is of well known construction. The said hub 42 is furnished with a gathering pin 44 which, as the hub 42 revolves from right to left, engages with the teeth of the rack and lifts the same tooth by tooth until its locking-notch 7 has been registered with the locking-pin 36 of the locking-lever 22 which is then swung by its spring 25 from left to right, whereby its finger 37 is brought into position to collide with the pin 39 and thus stop the wheel 40 and arrest the striking train. The hub 42 is provided with two hammer-lifting pins 45, 46, the former being merely an. extension of the gathering pin 44. These pins 45 and 46 successively engage the end of a hammer-lifting arm 47 secured to the inner face of a hub 48 loosely mounted u )on a screw-stud 49 in the rear movementplate 4 and carrying the tail 50 of the bellhammer 51. Every time the hammer-lifting arm 47 is lifted. by one of the pins 45, 46, the hammer will be lifted and dropped so as to cause the hammer to strike the bell twice with a short interval between the strokes after the manner of striking a ships hell by hand. To this last statement the exception must be made that as on the half hours throughout the watches, the bell is struck an odd number ofstrokes as already explained, the hammer must be caught and not allowed to fall the second time at the end of striking the half-hours. For this purpose I employ a half-hour finger 52 made integral with the hammer-lifting arm 47 and f()1l1'10(l at its lower end with a toe 53 arranged to strike into a hole 54 in an arm turned outward at a right angle from the outer end of a horizontally arranged half-hour lever 56 located adjacent to the outer face of the locking lever 22 and below the rack 5 and rocking upon a stud 57 in the plate 4. This lever is furnished with a spring 58, its rocking movement is limited by two step pins 50 and (i0 and its inner end is beveled for co-action with the rounded lower end of the half-hour switch 20 the swinging movement of which is limited by a stop pin 61v in the lever 22. A spring 62 tends always to swing the said switch from left to right.

It will not be necessary to explain at length the striking of ships bells on the hour and. half-hour through the watches into which the twenty-four hours of the day are divided on ship board. It will be sullicient to explain that the half-hour eccentric 19 is fixed upon the center arbor 12 so that when the hours are struck, the eccentric will reach the limit of its movement to the right where it gives the maximum clearance for the half-hour switch 20. Therefore when at the conclusion of the rack-gathering function, the locking pin 36 drops into the locking notch 7 in the rack 5 and the locking lever 22 is swung from left to right by its spring 25, the half-hour switch 20 finds nothing to collide with as it descends with the lever 22 by which it is carried. It therefore fails to operate the half-hour lever 56 and the hammer 5]. is not caught on the second stroke, but allowed to fall and strike the bell. During the next half hour, however, the half-hour eccentric i9 is moved into its operating position, that is to say, to the limit of its movement to the right. Now when at the conclusion of the rack gathering function the locking pin 36 drops into the locking notch 7 and the locking lever 22 is again swung from left to right by its spring 25, the half-hour switch 20 in its descent collides with the half-hour eccentric as shown in Fig. 2, whereby the switch is forced to perform a swinging movement from right to left against the tension of its spring 62. As the switch is thus forced by the eccentric to move from left to right, it engages with the beveled the outer end of the said lever to be lifted against the tension of its spring 58 as shown in Fig. 2, just in time to cause the toe 53 of the half-hour finger 52 to be caught in the hole 54 of the arm 55 of the half-hour lever, whereby the hammer 51 will, as it is released by one or the other of the gathering pins 45, 46, be caught in its elevated position and not allowed to fall and make its second stroke upon the bell. This catching of the hammer, so to speak, in its uplifted position only takes place on the half-hour and insures the odd stroke on the half-hour characteristic of ships bells. In this way I provide for striking ships bells on the hour and half hour with only one hammer and without discarding the customary double stroke on the hours.

I claim 1. In a ships bells clock, the combination with a hammer, of means for operating the same to strike ships bells by double strokes, the said means including a half-hour eccentric, a half-hour switch, and a halfhour lever for catching the hammer on the u -stroke on the half hours which are indicated by an odd number of strokes.

2. In a ships bells clock, the combination with a hammer, of means for operating the same to strike ships bells by double strokes, the said means including a half-hour eccentric revolved once an hour, a half-hour switch co-acting therewith, a half-hour lever 'operated once an hour by the said switch,

and a half-hour finger co-acting with the said lever and connected with the hammer, whereby the hammer is caught and supported in its lifted position so as to strike an odd number on the half-hour.

3. In a ships bells clock, the combination with a hammer, of a halfhour eccentric mounted on the center arbor of the clock, a half-hour switch co-acting every hour with the said eccentric, a locking-lever from which the said switch is suspended, a locking pin carried by the said lever, a rack co-acting with the said pin, a gathering hub provided with a gathering pin which co-acts with the said rack, a half-hour lever co-acting at its inner end with the said half-hour switch, a half-hour finger co-acting with the outer end of the half-hour lever, a hammer-lifting arm rigidly connected with the hammer and halfhour finger, and two pins carried by the gathering hub and co-actmgwith the said lifting arm.

In testimony whereof, I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

PAUL LUX. Witnesses:

C. W. SHADER,

C. I. GRIGGS. 

